19 - Continental-Shelf Benthic Ecosystems Prospects For An Improved Environmental Future Pp. 295-308

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Aquatic Ecosystems
Trends and Global Prospects
Edited by Nicholas V. C. Polunin
Book DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511751790
Online ISBN: 9780511751790
Hardback ISBN: 9780521833271
Chapter
19 - Continental-shelf benthic ecosystems: prospects for an improved environmental future pp. 295-308
Chapter DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511751790.026
Cambridge University Press
19 Continental-shelf benthic ecosystems: prospects for an
improved environmental future
s t e p h e n j . h a l l , s t ua rt i . r o g e r s a n d s i mo n f. t h r u s h
INTRODUCTION
The value of continental-shelf systems has been estimated to
be US$1640 per ha per year (total worldwide value:
US$11 546 billion per year) (Costanza et al. 1997). By com-
parison, the average farm income for the USA is US$200 per
ha per year. Therefore, whether the concern is for human
welfare or the conservation of marine natural heritage, the
future of these ecosystems deserves careful consideration.
Although less charismatic than coral reefs (Chapter 16),
and less familiar than wetlands or mangroves (e.g.
Chapters 1113), continental-shelf benthic systems sup-
port a major component of global sheries production,
exert important controls on marine productivity and con-
tain rich and varied marine communities. The purpose
here is to look forward and consider the future of these
ecosystems to the 2025 time horizon.
Aquatic Ecosystems, ed. N. V. C. Polunin. Published by Cambridge University Press. Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2008.
295
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A wide array of factors affect the biodiversity of
continental-shelf ecosystems, a number of which are the
consequence of human activity. Generally, the importance
of different stressors varies from place to place, and the
resident biological communities show variation in sensi-
tivity to these impacts as a result of environmental or
biogeographical constraint and disturbance history (Hall
2002). Although impacts are often immediate and local
in scale, the potential for broader-scale chronic and
degradative change is now recognized in some, if not
many, areas. The nature of these broad-scale changes and
the agents that cause them are now beginning to be
understood.
When an impact is severe enough to dominate all other
factors, consistent global patterns emerge. The overall
reductions in biomass of harvested species as a result of
shing is, perhaps, the exemplar of such a global pattern
(see Pauly et al. 1998). For the most part, however, factors
affecting continental-shelf ecosystems vary around the
planet, even though they may be locally and regionally
severe. This situation makes globally averaged values of
stress and disturbance meaningless; it would make no
sense, for example, to consider the stresses placed on
enclosed shelves with high population densities in the
surrounding catchments to be directly relevant to other
shelf ecosystems. Nor would it be appropriate to assume
that large-scale impacts are restricted to shelf areas adja-
cent to regions of high population density; for example
poor forestry and agricultural practices also pose a sig-
nicant threat in regions where the population is low, as
does the globalization of sheries. On the Antarctic con-
tinental shelf, for example, there has been a long history of
exploitation of top-level predators and more recently
increasing exploitation of demersal sh stocks (Chapter 21).
In fact, extensive impacts in regions of low population
density may have the most profound effects owing to the
often shorter history of disturbance and exploitation.
Globally, these regions may well be among the best places
to focus conservation efforts.
One solution to predicting ecological response to future
trends lies in developing an understanding of the scales of
disturbance and the scales of ecological recovery or suc-
cession that follow these disturbance events. Over much of
the continental shelf, natural disturbance events covering a
large area (tens to hundreds of square kilometres) are rare.
For example, although there are exceptions, storms rarely
stir the seabed below about 60 m depth, and the effects are
sometimes surprisingly limited. For example, despite wave
heights exceeding 3 m for more than 40 hours, and a
maximum recorded wave height of 11.82 m in a North Sea
force 9 gale, at most only the top 1 cm of sediment at 25 m
depth was eroded (Green et al. 1995). Other broad-scale
natural disturbances of continental shelves include earth-
quakes and volcanic activity, iceberg scour (which is
limited to the polar continental shelves) and hyperpycnal
sediment ows (which are restricted to areas of extreme
terrigenous sediment loading) (Foster & Carter 1997;
Wheatcroft 2000). Toxic algal blooms and anoxic/hypoxic
events are other broad-scale disturbance phenomena that
are also restricted to specic locations, although in many
locations the extent and frequency of disturbance appears
to be increasing (Verity et al. 2002).
This chapter seeks to (1) examine the key human-
induced drivers of change for soft-sediment continental
shelves, (2) examine societys aspirations for these eco-
systems and (3) discuss the impediments and opportunities
for meeting these aspirations within a 2025 time horizon.
The purpose is not to provide a comprehensive review of
all the controls on shelfsea ecosystems, which has been
done elsewhere (e.g. Hall 2002). Rather, it is to explore key
issues inuencing the likely future of continental shelf
ecosystems at a global scale.
Although many factors must be taken into account
when considering the future of any ecosystem (Hall 2002),
this chapter focuses on two major issues, namely water
quality and shing. These two issues were specically
chosen because of their signicance to continental-shelf
ecosystems in many parts of the world. They also reect
different types of anthropogenic impacts, one linking land
and sea and the other a predominantly marine threat, and
this contrast has important implications for drivers of
change in these ecosystems. These two factors are widely
considered dominant human drivers of change in shelf
systems, with shing considered to be the factor that has
the largest direct impact (Dayton et al. 1996; Pauly et al.
1998; Hall 1999; Verity et al. 2002). While at a local scale,
other impacts may well be more important, from a global
perspective these two are without doubt the principal
concerns (Peterson & Estes 2001; Norse & Crowder 2005).
This focus choice is also supported by a detailed evaluation
of 32 human activities or pressures in an assessment of
the North Sea, where the rst ve activities in the top-
ranking class of pressures related to commercial sheries
(removal of target species, seabed disturbance, discarding
and non-target species effects) and inputs from land
(organic micropollutants and nutrients) (OSPAR 2000a).
296 S. J. HALL ET AL.
FISHING
Commercial shing is now recognized for the profound
changes it can induce in marine ecosystems. The contin-
ental shelves of all countries are exploited and many stocks
are at, or beyond, their capacity to sustain exploitation.
Commercial shing has changed the density and size
structure of many exploited populations, with consequent
effects on the uxes of materials through the food webs of
continental-shelf ecosystems (Pauly et al. 1998; Hall 1999).
There is growing evidence of signicant ecological
change to the sea oor owing to habitat disturbance by
bottom-shing gear (Dayton et al. 1995; Jennings & Kaiser
1998; Watling & Norse 1998; Auster & Langton 1999; Hall
1999; Kaiser & de Groot 2000). Despite the often-signicant
challenges in conducting these impact studies, some con-
sistent responses to habitat disturbance have emerged
across broad spatial scales (Thrush et al. 1998; Kaiser et al.
2000; McConnaughey et al. 2000; Cryer et al. 2002).
Common changes in sea oor communities that have
occurred across a variety of habitat types include reduced
habitat structure, lower diversity and loss of large and
long-lived sedentary species.
In the light of these effects on sh communities and on
the benthic system that supports them, many countries are
now trying to increase their efforts to manage sheries for
ecosystem sustainability and nd a balance between
exploitation and the conservation of marine biodiversity
(Table 19.1) However, as shery resources have been
overexploited close to the main human population centres,
shing activity has shifted to exploit resources in develop-
ing countries that often have limited means to effectively
manage their sheries. The shing industry has also moved
to exploit deep-water sh stocks, including those of previ-
ously inaccessible areas such as rocky seamounts and reefal
environments (Koslow et al. 2000, 2001).
Fishing-induced changes in shelf systems
At the global scale, shing has dramatically reduced target-
species biomass in many continental-shelf systems, and
there has tended to be a pattern of sequential exploitation
of species, beginning with the top predators and gradually
shing down the food web (Pauly et al. 1998; Chapter 1).
Exactly how these changes have altered the competitive
and predatory relationships within these systems, and what
the ecological consequences of these changes are, is open to
considerable debate (see Chapter 20). There is little doubt,
however, that shing has dramatically altered the ecology
of shelf sh communities. Examples of the changes that
have occurred are provided by analyses of how demersal
sh communities in the North Sea, Georges Bank (USA)
Table 19.1. Change in objectives and the policies required to achieve them for future sheries management
Present Future
Objectives
Sustaining stocks ! Sustaining assemblages and ecosystems
Maximizing annual catches ! Maximizing long-term welfare
Maximizing employment ! Providing sustainable employment
Ensuring full resource use ! Ensuring efcient resource use (minimizing waste)
Tending to short-term interests ! Addressing both short- and long-term interests
Addressing local considerations ! Addressing both local and global considerations
Policies
Open and free access ! Limited entry, user rights and user fees
Sectoral shery policy ! Coastal zone inter-sectoral policy
Command and control instruments ! Command and control and macroeconomic
instruments
Topdown and risk-prone approaches ! Participative and precautionary approaches
Source: From Garcia and Grainger (1996).
Continental-shelf benthic ecosystems 297
and Gulf of Thailand have changed during a period of
intense shing (Hall 2002) (Table 19.2), and by a com-
prehensive summary of the shing-induced changes
observed in the North Atlantic (Pauly & Maclean 2002).
Changes occur in the structure of sh communities and
benthic communities impacted by shing activity (reviews
of Dayton et al. 1996; Jennings & Kaiser 1998; Hall 1999;
Collie et al. 2000); however, such changes in diversity and
Table 19.2 Candidate criteria for a denition of ecosystem overshing and the status of three demersal shery systems
Study
Criterion Gulf of Thailand North-east USA North Sea
Biomass of one or more
important species falls
below minimum
biologically acceptable
limits
Important demersal sh
species abundance
one-tenth of their levels
in 1960s
Exploitation rates on
principal groundshes
reduced recently, but
harvest rates on other
components increased to
non-sustainable levels
No signs of persistent
recruitment overshing,
biomasses of important
resource stocks are below
minimum acceptable
levels
Biological diversity declines
signicantly
Decline in diversity,
owing to loss of
important components,
but continuing high total
yields
Dominance of species
groups changed as a
direct result of excessive
shing and sequential
depletion
Diversity of the system
has uctuated without
trend
Harvesting leads to
increased year-to-year
variation in populations/
catches
No increase in
interannual variation in
aggregate landings
Greater interannual
uctuations in landings
owing to increased
dominance of species
with more variable
recruitment
characteristics
No apparent increase
Signicant decrease in
resilience or resistance
of the ecosystem to
perturbations
No apparent trend ? No data available ? No data available
Lower cumulative net
economic or social
benets than might be
obtained with less intense
shing
Net benets from the sh
community would be
higher with less shing
effort, but increased
shrimp landings provide
substantial alternative
benets
Rebuilding of depleted
resources and their
efcient management
would result in very
large additional benets
? No data available
Fishing impairs long-term
viability of ecologically
important non-resource
species
? Unclear; almost all species
are used
Small pelagic prey
species remain abundant
and underexploited.
By-catch of turtles and
marine mammals are of
signicant concern
Concern about viability
of some elasmobranch
species
, criterion supported by available data; , criterion not supported by available data; ?, unclear pattern.
Source: Adapted from Murawski (2000).
abundance of species are not the only concern when
attempting to forecast the future of continental-shelf eco-
systems. In the case of the benthos, for example, the fauna
also plays an important role in the functional attributes of
shelf seas by exerting control over the uxes and recycling
of energy and matter (Thrush & Dayton 2002). Although
studying these functional aspects of benthic communities
is extremely difcult and complex, their importance
or the impact that shing might have should not be
underestimated.
There is an expectation, for example, that because
trawling reduces the abundance of the bioturbating mac-
rofauna that plays a key role in remineralization processes,
and because the physical mixing by trawling (unlike the
mixing by macrofauna) does not contribute directly to
community metabolism, shing can have a profound effect
on biogeochemical cycles. Duplisea et al. (2001) con-
structed a simulation model to examine effects of trawling
disturbance on carbon mineralization and chemical con-
centrations in a soft-sediment system. Contrasting a nat-
ural scenario, where bioturbation increases as a function of
macrobenthos biomass, with a trawling scenario, where
physical disturbance results from trawling rather than
the action of bioturbating macrofauna (which are killed by
the action of the trawl gear), the model suggested that the
effects of low levels of trawling disturbance will be similar
to those of natural bioturbators (Duplisea et al. 2001).
However, at high levels of trawling the system became
unstable owing to large carbon uxes between oxic and
anoxic environments within the sea oor sediments. The
presence of macrobenthos in the natural disturbance
scenario stabilized sediment chemical storage and uxes,
because the macrobenthos are important participants in
the total community metabolism. This simple model
suggests that, where physical disturbance due to waves
and tides is low, intensive trawling may destabilize ben-
thic-system chemical uxes, with the potential to propa-
gate more widely through marine ecosystems (Duplisea
et al. 2001).
One possible way to predict the effects of shing on
functional attributes is to consider how the overall trophic
structure of communities changes, rather than just species
composition. One of the few studies that has attempted
this for benthos is that of Jennings et al. (2001), who found
that, although chronic trawling disturbance led to dramatic
reductions in the biomass of infauna and epifauna, these
reductions were not reected in changes to the mean
trophic level of the community, or the relationships
between the trophic levels of different size classes of
epifauna. Indeed, despite order-of-magnitude decreases in
biomass of infauna, and a shift from a community dom-
inated by bivalves and spatangoids to one dominated by
polychaetes, the mean trophic level of these communities
differed by less than one trophic level between sites, and
differences were not linked to levels of shing disturb-
ance ( Jennings et al. 2001). This stability in the trophic
structure of the benthos could imply that species less
vulnerable to disturbance are taking the trophic roles of
larger more vulnerable species. This is difcult to imagine
in the pelagos, where there is a strong relationship
between trophic position and body size, but perfectly
possible in the benthos, where this relationship breaks
down.
It should be stressed that the above results are only
applicable to the free-living fauna of mobile substrates and
cannot be extrapolated to areas with lower natural dis-
turbance, or where habitat-forming species are found. For
example, it is known that larger lter-feeding bivalves can
consume a substantial proportion of primary production;
Hermesen et al. (2003) estimated a scallop production for
Georges Bank (up to 280 kcal per m
2
per year) which
would result in the consumption of a substantial propor-
tion of the water-column productivity (Sissenwine 1984;
Steele 2005).
WATER QUALITY
Fluxes of nitrogen and phosphorus have been altered over
large sections of the globe (e.g., Chapters 2, 3 and 13), and
the mobility and availability of these nutrients have
increased in the sea (e.g. Vitousek et al. 1997a). Here, two
important water-quality issues that affect the nearshore
shelf environment are considered, namely the input of
contaminants leading to eutrophication and elevated sus-
pended sediment concentrations. The main source of both
these problems is poor land use and, in the case of
eutrophication, inadequate treatment of human, industrial
and agricultural waste.
While environments can be subject to naturally high
rates of sediment loading or be predisposed to the adverse
effects of eutrophication, both problems are exacerbated
by human land use, particularly agriculture, forestry and
urbanization. Thus, with the predicted rise in human
population density, particularly in coastal regions, the
environmental footprints of eutrophication and sediment
impacts are likely to extend onto the continental shelf.
Eutrophication
On a global scale, point sources are generally considered to
be less important than non-point nutrient sources; how-
ever, where large coastal metropolises occur, point sources
can have a very signicant impact. Input of wastewater
from New York City, for example, contributes 67% of the
nitrogen to Long Island Sound each year (Rabalais 2005).
In developing countries, an estimated 90% of wastewater is
discharged into rivers and streams without treatment, and
in China, 80% of the 50 000 km of major rivers are too
polluted to sustain sheries (Tockner & Stanford 2002). In
this context, it is signicant that by 2015 more than half
the worlds population is expected to be urban dwelling
and the number of people living in mega-cities (>10
million people) will more than double to 400 million.
With respect to non-point nutrient sources, fertilizer
application remains the principal culprit. Although input
rates have stabilized in some watersheds, on a worldwide
basis fertilizer use continues to increase (Seitzinger et al.
2002). Transport by rivers is a principal route by which
nutrients enter coastal seas, which in some areas (such
as the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico around the
Mississippi River) far exceeds the inputs from any other
source. One of the most rapidly increasing sources of
input, however, is the atmosphere, with up to 40% of the
industrial, agricultural and urban nutrient uxes entering
coastal waters via this route (Paerl 1995).
Atmospheric emissions are linked in particular to
industrial activity and energy consumption, and China and
India are expected to see the most dramatic rises in these in
future. Chinas economic development will be mainly in
the coastal provinces and it is there that the most dramatic
increases can be anticipated. However, agricultural inputs
via the atmosphere are also important. For example, 40%
of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers are volatilized as ammonia,
either directly following application or from the wastes of
animals fed on the crops grown.
Coastal areas with reduced water exchange are par-
ticularly prone to alterations in the relative availability of
nutrients, and hence semi-enclosed seas (e.g. Baltic, Black
and Adriatic Seas), fjords, lagoons and bays exhibit the
most visible effects of eutrophication. However, when
loading is high and/or oceanographic conditions lead to
poor water exchange and stratication, eutrophication
can impact the open shelf (Rabalais et al. 2002; Rabalais
2005). In the early stages, nutrient additions to the coastal
zone typically result in increased production. Further
eutrophication, however, results in changed species
composition and indirect feedback effects (e.g. shading
effects by phytoplankton, induction of hypoxia and
physiological and behavioural responses), followed by
extreme effects as a result of smothering of the sediment
surface by macroalgal mats, or the large-scale induction of
anoxia and consequent mass mortality of benthos and sh
(see Baden & Pihl 1990). Initially, these effects do not
impact the sea oor uniformly; anoxic patches determined
by topography, history, hydrodynamics and depositional
events are the precursors to broad-scale effects. Drifting
macroalgae can also play an important role in connecting
benthic habitats in estuaries and nearshore regions with
effects further offshore.
The largest coastal hypoxic zones recorded in the world
are in the Baltic Sea (84 000 km
2
), the northern Gulf of
Mexico (22 000 km
2
) and the north-western shelf of the
Black Sea (40 000 km
2
) (Rabalais 2005). However, follow-
ing the economic collapse of the Soviet Union and the
consequent declines in fertilizer application, the 1990s
witnessed greatly reduced nutrient inputs to the Black Sea.
In 1996, the anoxic region failed to develop for the rst
time in several decades and, by 1999, the area was less than
1000 km
2
in size (Mee 2001).
Sediment loading
Geological and oceanographic evidence shows that sedi-
ment loading to estuaries and coasts has increased con-
comitantly with human population growth and the
development of coastal margins. For example, sediment
loads in rivers draining the Atlantic seaboard of the USA
would have been four to ve times lower than current
values if the landscape had remained undisturbed by
humans (Meade 1969).
The impacts of elevated suspended sediment concen-
trations and catastrophic depositional events have not
received the same level of attention as eutrophication,
partly at least because in many areas these impacts are
associated with the development of coastal land, and
ecologists beleaguered with the problems of eutrophication
and pollution have tended to ignore sediment as a
contaminant.
A number of factors predispose rivers and their
catchments to delivery of high sediment loads, notably
easily erodible sediment, steep terrain and moderate to low
annual freshwater discharge (Mulder & Syvitski 1995).
The Eel River in northern California (USA) exhibits these
characteristics, and clay-dominated terrestrial sediment
deposits resulting from a single depositional event have
been documented over a large (30 km 8 km) area of the
adjacent continental shelf (Wheatcroft et al. 1996). A
similar phenomenon has been noted off the continental
shelf of Poverty Bay (New Zealand) (Foster & Carter
1997). The characteristics of rivers and catchments that
produce large episodic depositions of terrestrial sediment
on the sea oor are common in many Pacic Rim countries
(Milliman & Meade 1983; Alongi 1998). Naturally high
rates of sediment delivery through estuaries can be further
exacerbated by land uses such as deforestation, farming
and urbanization. Sediment runoff from land and rapid
sedimentation events within coastal regions may become
more common owing to climatic variability intensied by
changes in resource use and exploitation by humans
(Fowler & Hennessey 1995; Wheatcroft 2000).
Deposition of terrestrial sediment has been shown to
signicantly inuence benthic communities (Peterson
1985; Norkko et al. 2002; Thrush et al. 2003), with the
potential for indirect effects. Changes may arise, for
example, when increased turbidity, as a result of an altered
sediment input and resuspension regime, clogs the feeding
structures of suspension feeders, thereby inuencing their
role in benthicpelagic coupling (see Ellis et al. 2002;
Norkko et al. 2002). There is also the potential for subtler
but nonetheless degradatory changes in sediment porosity
and stability.
SOCI ETY S GOALS FOR CONTI NEN-
TAL-SHELF ECOSYSTEMS
It is reasonable to assume that the future of continental-
shelf ecosystems to the 2025 time horizon will be strongly
inuenced by societys goals for the whole environment. In
broad terms, these goals relate both to the pressing need to
improve human welfare, and to maintain or restore marine
biodiversity. Broad principles embodying these concepts
have now been widely adopted in various forms under the
general banner of ecologically sustainable development
(ESD). Clearly, however, at local scales and in the shorter
term, human welfare and environmental protection of shelf
ecosystems may not always be mutually compatible.
To what extent do the societal aspirations embodied in
the concept of ESD provide a genuine framework for real
progress with integrated management and the protection of
biodiversity? In this section, the most important and
inuential global and sectoral agreements relating to the
continental shelf are summarized, and the likelihood of
these commitments being honoured in different global
regions is assessed.
In accordance with the Charter of the United Nations
and the principles of international law, all states have the
sovereign right to exploit their continental-shelf resources
in accordance with their own environmental policies, and
the responsibility to ensure that activities within their
control do not cause damage to the environment beyond
the limits of national jurisdiction. Despite this overarching
framework, there has been sufcient concern over the past
two decades with the current state of the marine ecosystem
that a plethora of additional international agreements and
programmes have been established. These have addressed
environmental concerns that include direct and indirect
effects of shing activity in coastal waters and on contin-
ental shelves, human population growth, climate variability
and climate change, the effects of runoff, land-based and
atmospheric discharges and the direct consequences of
disposal and dredging at sea. A key point to emphasize is
that, while each of these impacts will occur to a greater or
lesser extent in all global regions, local priorities differ. In
Africa, for example, the most pressing issues include food
security, governance, poverty and health, while in Asia and
the Pacic, deforestation and land degradation, freshwater
resources, climate change, sea-level rise and regional air
pollution are also important. It is very difcult, therefore,
to generalize global priorities, and this may in turn limit
agreements on high-level international aspirations from
reaching fruition.
In 1992, more than 100 heads of state met in Rio de
Janeiro (Brazil) for the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED). This Earth
Summit was convened to address urgent problems of
environmental protection and socioeconomic development.
The assembled leaders signed the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), endorsed the Rio Declaration
and adopted Agenda 21, a 300-page plan for achieving
sustainable development in the twenty-rst century.
Agenda 21 reected a global consensus and political
commitment at the highest level to development and
environmental cooperation, and made it clear that progress
could only be implemented through national policies
achieved through international cooperation. Thus,
although agreements under this convention have wide-
ranging implications for ESD on a global scale, they also
provide the basis for all current commitments and obli-
gations by coastal states to the conservation and sustainable
use of their continental shelf ecosystems. Programme areas
relevant to such shelf environments include the integrated
management and sustainable development of coastal areas,
including exclusive economic zones, marine environmental
protection, and the sustainable use and conservation of
marine living resources.
A 5-year review of Earth Summit progress was
undertaken in 1997 by the United Nations General
Assembly, followed in 2002 by a 10-year review by the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
Despite the framework established during the previous
decade, it was generally felt that progress in implementing
sustainable development had been disappointing and that
clear commitments and actions were necessary at the
beginning of the new millennium.
As a result of the review, a number of key commitments
were identied at the WSSD to highlight those issues
relevant to continental shelf ecosystems on which action was
most urgently needed. These included commitments to:
Encourage the application by 2010 of the ecosystem
approach for the sustainable development of the oceans.
Develop and facilitate the use of diverse approaches and
tools (including the ecosystem approach), the elimin-
ation of destructive shing practices and the establish-
ment of marine protected areas consistent with
international law and based on scientic information,
including representative networks, by 2012.
Achieve, by 2010, a signicant reduction in the current
rate of loss of biological diversity.
On an urgent basis and where possible by 2015, main-
tain or restore depleted sh stocks to levels that can
produce the maximum sustainable yield.
Put into effect the FAO (Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations) international plans
of action for the management of shing capacity, and
prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and
unregulated shing.
Eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unre-
ported and unregulated shing and to overcapacity.
Achievement of these goals would go a long way towards
mitigating the threats posed to continental-shelf benthic
systems to the 2025 time horizon. However, on the global
stage, these goals can only be achieved through national
progress and legislation, a factor that is fundamental to the
success or failure of these sustainable development initia-
tives. Realizing the benets of regional coherence and
support, the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) established a Regional Seas Programme to
encourage groups of countries sharing common seas to nd
regional solutions to their particular problems. Two of the
major priority issues that are currently addressed by
Regional Seas Agreements include biodiversity conser-
vation and integrated coastal area management. There are
now more than 140 coastal states and territories partici-
pating in such arrangements, and with the signing of the
North-East Pacic Regional Seas Agreement in March
2002, the programme covers nearly all of the planets
continental-shelf ecosystems (UNEP 2000c). While the
practical benets of such a programme have yet to be
realized and a full assessment remains to be done, it is
reasonable to assume that these Regional Seas Agreements
will form the basis for all future cooperation in those areas
of the continental shelf system that fall outside national
jurisdiction.
Many of the aspirations described in the WSSD
environmental goals have been adopted and modied by
other regional governments and administrations. As noted
earlier, this is an essential step that translates these generic
international agreements into national and regional policy
and legislation. For example, the EU (European Union)
has developed a Marine Strategy as a contribution to its
Strategy for Sustainable Development, which encompasses
many of the principles outlined at the Earth Summit (EC
[European Commission] 2002). The Strategy recognizes
that setting specic sectoral or issue-based objectives with
time-lines for their achievement is ambitious, and will
require substantial levels of integration and commitment.
In terms of the loss of biodiversity and destruction of
habitats, the EU is already committed, following the
European summit in Gothenburg in 2001, to halt bio-
diversity decline by 2010. In order to progress this target,
the Natura 2000 network of natural protected areas has
been established throughout the EU to ensure the long-
term survival of Europes threatened species and habitats.
Similarly, the EU is committed to a reform of the sheries
management process to reverse the decline in stocks and
ensure sustainable sheries and a healthy ecosystem, both
in the EU and globally. The recent draft Marine Strategy
Directive (EC 2005) will also require the achievement of
good environmental status throughout continental-shelf
seas. These are ambitious and challenging objectives that
will guide the state of European continental-shelf ecosys-
tems to the year 2025 and beyond. Other objectives
relate to the need to deal with hazardous substances,
eutrophication, chronic oil pollution, radionuclides, micro-
biological threats and climate change (Table 19.3). The Oslo
and Paris (OSPAR), Helsinki (HELCOM) and Barcelona
Conventions are major instruments through which many
of these environmental goals are implemented more widely
in the Mediterranean, north-east Atlantic and the Baltic
Sea areas.
In a global context, many of the same aspirations have
been incorporated into the FAO (2001b) Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries, which sets out non-mandatory
principles and international standards of behaviour for
responsible shing practices for the effective conservation,
management and development of living aquatic resources,
taking account of the ecosystem and biodiversity. Para-
mount amongst these is the expectation that states should
apply the precautionary approach widely to conservation,
management and exploitation of living aquatic resources to
protect them and preserve the aquatic environment. The
Code also warns that the absence of adequate scientic
information should not be used as a reason for postponing
or failing to take conservation and management measures
(FAO 2001b). Although both these examples provide an
international context for national legislation that already
exists, or can subsequently be developed, they do not of
themselves have authority to implement real change.
Goals for human welfare: implications for con-
tinental-shelf ecosystems
In parallel with the preparation of marine environmental
objectives has been the development of an equal number
and range of aspirations for human welfare, to address the
ongoing problem of global poverty. While it is outside the
scope of this chapter to provide a comprehensive overview
of these goals, several of these objectives may slow the rate
of progress towards improved quality of the continental-
shelf environment. In particular, work undertaken by the
UN (United Nations) and World Water Council (WWC
2003b) highlights progress to deal with the pressing need
for water and sanitation.
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, the UN
reafrmed their commitment to sustainable development
and elimination of poverty, and prepared millennium
development goals from the agreements and resolutions of
world conferences organized by the UN in the past decade.
The goals focus the efforts of the world community on
achieving signicant, measurable improvements in peoples
lives. Importantly, the goals recognize both that the
environment provides goods and services that sustain
human development, and that better natural-resource
management increases the income and nutrition of poor
people. Improved resource management also reduces the
Table 19.3. Eleven objectives of the EU Marine Strategy relating to continental shelf ecosystems
Objective
(1) Halting biodiversity decline by 2010 and ensuring sustainable use of biodiversity through protection and conservation
of natural habitats by applying an ecosystem-based approach.
(2) Changing sheries management to reverse declining stocks and ensure sustainable sheries both in the EU and
globally.
(3) Eliminating pollution by dangerous substances.
(4) Preventing pollution by radioactive substances by 2020.
(5) Eliminating eutrophication problems caused by man by 2010.
(6) Eliminating pollution by litter by 2010.
(7) Phasing out illegal discharges of oil by 2010 and all discharges of oil by 2020.
(8) Reducing the environmental impact by shipping through the development of the clean ship
concept.
(9) Raising the quality of seafood without risk to human health.
(10) Implementing the commitments made in the Kyoto Protocol regarding the reduction of greenhouse
gases.
(11) Improving the knowledge base on which marine protection policy is founded.
risk of disaster from oods, improved water and sanitation
reduce child mortality and better drainage reduces malaria.
The rst seven millennium development goals are
mutually reinforcing and are directed at reducing poverty
in all its forms. Two objectives relevant to continental-
shelf ecosystems under the broad headings Eradicate
extreme poverty and hunger and Ensure environmental
sustainability are to (1) halve, between 1990 and 2015, the
proportion of people who suffer from hunger, and (2)
halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustain-
able access to safe drinking water.
In 2000, the WWC identied a pressing need for
improved water supplies to large parts of the developing
world, and realized that the continued impoundment of
reservoirs was inevitable and necessary. It identied the clear
need by 2025 to provide water, sanitation and hygiene for all.
ACHIEVING THE OBJECTIVES: CHAL-
LENGES AND APPROACHES
TO IMPLEMENTATION
Understanding the social dimensions
There are many impediments to mitigating environmental
threats to the worlds continental shelves and these differ
both geographically and for different threats. These chal-
lenges include information needs in general and, specic-
ally, developing an understanding of the complexity and
interconnectedness of natural systems, and how this can
affect ecosystem response to change; these issues are the
natural focus for science and scientists. Perhaps more than
anything else, however, it is the social, economic and
political dimensions of environmental management that
present the greatest challenge. While everything may not
be known about the processes that control marine systems,
or the nature and magnitude of anthropogenic change (and
threat of change) may not be documented fully, more often
than not enough is known to determine what actions would
mitigate impacts; the question of how to change societal
behaviour to take those actions is much more difcult.
Fishing is perhaps the classic example; more sheries
biology is not needed to highlight that many stocks are
depleted beyond levels that are wise. Nor is more research
needed to prove that levels of shing mortality need to be
reduced in most of these sheries. What does need to be
known, however, is how to reduce the levels of mortality in
socially and politically acceptable ways. It is understanding
the social dimensions of the problem and integrating this
understanding with scientically defensible and acceptable
solutions that is perhaps the biggest challenge.
With the exception of shing, the human footprint on
continental shelves results largely from land-based activ-
ities. It is here, then, that solutions to most of the threats to
continental shelves will need to be sought. Arriving at such
solutions will require not only scientic understanding, but
also an understanding of the social and economic setting in
which solutions must be found. Although global geopol-
itical and economic considerations are undoubtedly
important, particularly with respect to the divide between
developed and developing countries, the well-worn adage
think global act local probably applies. Success will come
in small steps rather than giant leaps.
An illustration of how research into the social dimen-
sions of a problem has the potential to help identify
solutions can be found in a recent analysis of shing
activity in Australian waters. Traditional Indonesian sh-
ers have access to Australian waters through a Memoran-
dum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed between the
two countries in 1974. Surveys in the late 1990s revealed
signicant depletion in the benthic invertebrate stocks
(trochus [gastropod] and trepang [sea cucumbers]) to
which the shers had access (Birkeland et al. 1982). As a
result of this shing, signicant concerns were expressed
about the threats to the biodiversity of the region. As the
invertebrate stocks declined, shers turned to the popu-
lations of sharks, which are caught for their ns. Shark
stocks declined in their turn and shers are now seeking
sharks outside the MoU box, creating a problem with
illegal shing in marine reserves.
In a search for a solution, sociological research revealed
that the vast majority (93%) of all vessels shing in one
part of the MoU box came from a single small island in the
Indonesian archipelago, and that 69% of all voyages ori-
ginated from a single village on that island (Fox 1998).
These ndings and other research pointed to the critical
role this village played in the sustainability of the sheries
in the region and clearly showed where effort to nd a
solution needed to be placed (Fox 1998). The focus of this
effort will need to be on the generation of alternative
livelihoods, perhaps through the development of low-
technology sustainable aquaculture.
The work of the FAO (e.g. FAO 2004, 2006) illustrates
how minor changes in resource allocation and engagement
of key participants in a shery can make a substantial
difference to outcomes. In the Bongolon region of Guinea
(West Africa), resources for sheries patrols are limited.
With the ability to undertake only six or seven patrols per
month, the National Centre for Fisheries Surveillance and
Protection was unable to control the high number of
incursions along the 300-mile coastline by illegal trawlers.
As a result, sheries resources were becoming severely
depleted. Recently, however, a new system has been
adopted in which small-scale shers in motorized canoes
report by radio to the enforcement ofcers when an
incursion is detected. This partnership has reduced
infringements by 59% and has also led to a reduction in
fatalities through accidents between illegal industrial
trawlers and small-scale shers. The improved catches by
the traditional shing community has greatly improved the
economic security of the sector and is being viewed as a
model for replication elsewhere.
These examples illustrate the kind of sociological
research that will be needed if the networks and motiv-
ations underlying behaviour in a region are to be under-
stood. It is the integration of this understanding with the
underpinning scientic knowledge of the ecology and
biology of the system that will most likely lead to identi-
cation of lasting solutions.
Financial drivers
Another fundamental requirement to ensure that goals for
both human welfare and the environment are met is the
international political will to develop an open and non-
discriminatory trading and nancial system. Without this
in place, the nancial resources of the developing world to
deal with even the basic issues of poverty and health will be
insufcient. The international community will need to
make a commitment to help develop good governance and
reduce poverty, and to ensure that the debt problems of
developing countries are solved sustainably in the long
term. The UN has taken the initiative by identifying a
high-level goal which recognizes that many of the poorest
countries will need additional assistance and must look to
the rich countries to provide it.
It is also argued that, if developing countries can take
advantage of new technologies and the reduced trade
barriers that come with an increasingly global economy,
this could lead to both environmental and societal benets.
Important recent initiatives in the World Trade Organ-
ization (WTO) and the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development have provided the legal
basis for an expanded global trading system that takes
into account important social and environmental concerns,
in addition to the achievement of core economic goals
(WTO 2003).
A key element of any effective trade system, however,
will be the recognition and internalization of environ-
mental costs. Such internalization will ensure that indus-
tries make investment decisions based on the full cost of
production, rather than a marginal cost in which society
carries the additional environmental overhead. Carbon
trading and emissions taxes are approaches designed to
bring such environmental dimensions into the market
system. At present, however, there remain many areas
where such costs are not internalized and where perverse
nancial incentives operate. This is perhaps most obvious
in the shing sector, where support can take a variety of
forms, all of which fall under the general heading of shing
subsidies. These subsidies include grants for the con-
struction of new vessels, grants for vessel modication,
preferential credit and tax treatments, payments to foreign
countries for access to sheries, and price subsidies or tax
breaks for things like fuel and ice. Public expenditure on
the infrastructure and services used by industry also count
as subsidies.
Based on 1989 data, the FAO estimated that there was
an approximately US$54 billion annual decit between
shing revenues and costs, most of which was presumed to
be as a result of subsidies. It is generally agreed that
reductions in shing subsidies would have a positive
impact on the sustainability of sh stocks and on the
environmental performance of the sector (Mattice 2003).
Such reductions have been argued for strongly by organ-
izations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature. Insti-
tutions such as the World Bank are now endeavouring to
avoid lending money for projects that would increase
capacity or effort in marine capture sheries.
An interesting perspective on these matters is that,
contrary to the generally held impression that it is human
irresponsibility that lies at the core of biodiversity loss, it is
in fact a consequence of human investment decisions and
therefore an issue of human responsibility (Swanson 1996).
Using marine sheries as an illustration, Swanson (1996)
pointed out that the well-recognized problems associated
with open-access sheries were only resolved when nation
states made the investment decision to restrict access and
bear the costs of ensuring that restriction is enforced. It
was only when depletion of resources on the continental
shelf became apparent that institutional investment in the
establishment of 200-mile limits came to be viewed as
worthwhile. The basic idea here is that all decisions at state
level concerning the regulation of natural resources are
investment decisions. In other words, the state decides
implicitly whether a particular resource or region is worthy
to be allocated scarce societal investment funds to ensure
that the access regime is complied with.
Recognizing that different access regimes carry with
them very different societal costs for enforcement, this
perspective sheds light on a situation that has arisen in a
number of areas, concerning the sale of shing rights by
developing countries to the eets of industrialized nations.
When a developing nation government considers where it
should invest the much-needed revenues gained from
providing access, it will often be in areas other than in
enforcement of access provisions. As a consequence of the
decision not to invest in enforcement, the opportunity for
overexploitation and illegal shing is considerable and
resource depletion more likely. In essence, it is the choice of
human society not to invest in the species that results in its
depletion. It is to be hoped, of course, that society knows
about the resource depletion and is fully informed about the
trade-offs with other priorities that it is making; in many
instances, however, this is unlikely to be the case.
Creating genuine value propositions
Perhaps the most important paradigm shift necessary for
effecting genuine change in patterns of human resource use
and waste disposal is for sustainable practices to be seen as
a nancially protable opportunity, rather than a business
cost. There is now a growing body of argument that
companies should focus on the nancial value that is cre-
ated or destroyed from issues surrounding ESD (Gilding
et al. 2002). The basis for this argument is that there are
now powerful market forces that put value on sustainability
for most industries and companies, and that action or
inaction on sustainability will lead to the creation or
destruction of company value. Proponents argue that
focusing sustainability efforts to maximize the nancial
value of an enterprise, rather than on doing it because they
should, will be the best way to integrate ESD concepts
and effect real change.
A tangible example of this line of thinking can be seen
in the area of environmental certication. In sheries, for
example, the growing inuence of the Marine Stewardship
Council (MSC) is notable (e.g. MSC 2004). The MSC
aims to promote environmentally sustainable sheries by
creating a worldwide certication system for sh products
from sheries that are managed in an environmentally
responsible manner. Eco-labelling allows consumers to
make conscious decisions about the products they pur-
chase, based on environmental considerations. The shery
products that the MSC endorses are independently
assessed against rigorous standards, and the Council
ensures that they meet the criteria for environmentally
sustainable shing practices. Fisheries apply for MSC
certication on a voluntary basis and must conform to a set
of clear principles and criteria to be eligible for certication
(Table 19.4). While suspicion remains in some quarters
regarding such eco-labelling, transparent processes and
clear principles and criteria should ensure that this
approach gains credibility and delivers conservation and
nancial benets.
CONCLUSI ONS
Scientic understanding of the nature and value of con-
tinental-shelf ecosystems remains woefully inadequate for
many parts of the world, yet sufcient is known to be
Table 19.4. Marine Stewardship Council Principles for Certication
Principle 1 A shery must be conducted in a manner that does not lead to over-shing or depletion of the exploited
populations and, for those populations that are depleted; the shery must be conducted in a manner
that demonstrably leads to their recovery.
Principle 2 Fishing operations should allow for the maintenance of the structure, productivity, function and
diversity of the ecosystem (including habitat and associated dependent and ecologically related
species) on which the shery depends.
Principle 3 The shery is subject to an effective management system that respects local, national and international
laws and standards and incorporates institutional and operational frameworks that require use of the
resource to be responsible and sustainable.
Source: Marine Stewardship Council (www.msc.org).
concerned about the changes wrought by human activity.
In particular, the rst-order effects on shelf systems of
degraded water quality from poor land-use practices or the
impacts of shing are now reasonably well understood and
documented. It is some comfort to report that the need to
manage these issues is now also recognized in the high-
level policy documents of national and international
bodies, all of which articulate a desire to reduce the threats
and balance short-term economic benet with long-term
sustainability.
An illustration of progress is the issue of ecosystem
effects of shing. This is a subject that was on the fringes
of sheries management thinking 1015 years ago, both in
terms of policy and practice. Now it is deeply embedded in
policy and sheries are increasingly adopting practices to
mitigate effects. Fishing-gear restrictions and improve-
ments, spatial resource management and reserve areas are
now core tools in the sheries management armoury.
Economic incentives to prosecute sheries in a more sus-
tainable manner are also becoming more important, as the
discrimination and value systems of consumers in
developed countries change. While it cannot yet be claimed
that the environmental performance of sheries is satis-
factory, there are some encouraging signs. Similar signs are
evident with respect to improvements in water quality. At
the very least, recognition of these problems reects a
desire to do something about them at the highest levels.
A primary consideration with setting any desired goal,
however, is how progress towards it can be measured. The
management mantra that if you cant measure it, you cant
manage it is no less true for environmental issues than any
other, and effective measures of environmental perform-
ance are essential. In recognition of the importance of this
issue, the literature is becoming increasingly well popu-
lated with proposals for and analyses of environmental
performance indicators (Baan & van Buuren 2003; OSPAR
2003). This literature shows that there are clearly many
possible approaches, but that none of them is perfect. In
developing an appropriate set of performance measures for
any given situation, therefore, compromise and continuous
improvement will be important principles. In general,
measures are used either to assess attainment of political
objectives (e.g. extent to which legislation is implemented
or area of continental shelf protected), or to monitor the
state of the marine environment (e.g. measures of bio-
logical diversity or concentration of contaminants in sedi-
ment). Both have a place in a portfolio of monitoring
and assessment methods, but they must be part of an
overarching framework to ensure that they complement
each other and together form a coherent set of measures.
Achieving this objective is still a long way off.
However, the imposition of new programmes of marine
protection will require much better developed and har-
monized monitoring and assessment methods at the level
of regional seas, and will need to be much more closely
linked to marine research needs and activities. Without this
underpinning science, the understanding needed to
develop indicators, set thresholds, monitor progress against
objectives and report success or failure in a meaningful way
will not keep pace with the aspirations of society.
While there are several examples of acceptance of high-
level aspirations in the developed world (Western
Australia, Government of, 2002; OSPAR 2002), globally
the implementation of WSSD goals has been patchy. One
fundamental reason for this relates to the practicalities of
implementing change, and can be illustrated by the
example of the EC. As already described, the ambitions
and geographical scope of the EU Marine Strategy are
broad, with the main focus on the European regional seas
(the Baltic, the north-east Atlantic, the Mediterranean and
the Black Sea). Even within the relatively sophisticated
management process of the Commission, however, there is
still doubt about whether existing legislative measures are
sufcient to provide the desired level of protection and
conservation of the marine environment. Over 20 years of
EC legislation on the environment, a complex mix of
policy and legislation has been created, and this aggrega-
tion still has gaps that do not specically address the
marine environment. For example, the long series of dis-
connected measures on water protection was replaced by a
new catchment-based Water Framework Directive, while
the Common Fisheries and Common Agricultural Policies
continue to lack a proper environmental perspective. On
the positive side, at least this legislation can be enforced,
which is a distinct advantage over the regional marine
conventions such as HELCOM and OSPAR, which are
more directly focused on the marine environment and lack
the teeth of EC legislation.
In addition, the European Commission cannot develop or
implement a marine strategy on its own, but must work in
cooperation and consultation with all stakeholders, particu-
larly with the well-respected, but relatively powerless,
existing regional marine bodies. For this to work effectively,
these regional organizations must have consistent approaches
to marine environmental management. As there is no
mechanism to ensure that this standardization occurs, there
are real practical difculties for those contracting parties that
belong to more than one regional organization (i.e. OSPAR
and HELCOM in the north-east Atlantic and Barcelona
Convention in the Mediterranean). The recent development
of a similar strategy for the Arctic region by the Programme
for the Assessment of the Marine Environment (PAME
2003) reinforces the need to have consistency of approach.
In the nal analysis, the threats to continental-shelf
ecosystems can be substantially mitigated and the sustain-
able provision of goods and services from them ensured. In
some cases, however, it will take many decades for the
benets to be realized. With respect to water quality, for
example, the buffering capacity of the soil ecosystem will
mean that changes in land-use practice in some areas may
not result in benets for many years. There is little doubt,
however, that the social and political challenges to achiev-
ing this situation are formidable and will loom largest for
developing countries in the coming decades.
To underpin the decision-making process and ensure
that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the
trade-offs that must necessarily be made, a continued
investment in science will be essential. Although only a
tiny fraction of the worlds shelf environment has been
sampled, knowledge of the functioning of these ecosystems
has increased markedly in recent decades. The view that
shelf sea oor ecosystems are homogeneous expanses of
sandats and mudats dominated by widely distributed
species has been superseded. Of 35 sites on the Norwegian
continental shelf, for example, 39% of 508 recorded spe-
cies were restricted to one or two sites, and only three
species spanned the entire 2700-km
2
study area (Ellingsen
2002). It is only with further investment to understand the
biodiversity and ecology of continental-shelf systems that
the trade-offs being made will be understood, and it will be
possible to judge whether management actions are having
the desired effect.

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